KUALA LUMPUR, 24 July 2009: Will the Gerakan central committee (CC), which is scheduled to meet tomorrow, review the decision of the party’s central working committee (CWC) to suspend vice-president Huan Cheng Guan for three years?

That is, at least, what Huan and his supporters are hoping for.

Huan said he has submitted a five-page appeal letter to most of the CC members to present his case which he felt was “too harsh” and “not in accordance with the party constitution”.

“After the Machang Bubok gathering that day, I wrote a very beautiful five-page letter to the CC members to press for an inquiry into my case. I also want an inquiry into my suspension.

“Without (an) inquiry, you just can’t suspend me, just like that. If you talk about transparency, you must also do it inside the party. Not only talk, but must also be seen to do it,” he told Bernama here today.

However, Huan said, not all CC members were given the appeal letter.

Initially, he said he would not appeal to the party’s CWC against his three-year suspension which took effect on 19 June 2009. But he changed his mind after receiving many requests from supporters to appeal.

However, Huan is not appealing to the CWC, but only to the CC.

This appeal comes after the party’s divisions in Seberang Prai held a dinner attended by 2,000 people at the Machang Bubok new village. Party leaders who turned up at the dinner asked Huan to appeal to the party.

The grapevine has it that party president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon promised Huan a six-month suspension, instead of the three-year ban. Party insiders and political observers say the three-year ban has practically finished off Huan’s career in Gerakan.

However, Koh has denied ever making such a promise.

Huan’s problems began in early June, due to a relatively minor issue over the appointment of party branch coordinators in the Machang Bubok division in Penang. The issue resulted in him issuing a threat to quit the party.

His threat, together with rumours that he would join Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), prompted the party’s CWC to issue him a show-cause letter which he replied with a two-paragraph letter that included an apology.

The CWC subsequently found him guilty of tarnishing the party’s image and suspended him. However, Huan claimed the absence of a disciplinary hearing before his suspension showed that there was an agenda by certain party leaders to oust him.

Following this, Huan wrote a five-page appeal letter to several CC members, in the hope that those who sympathise with him would argue in the meeting to review his suspension.

Party secretary-general Teng Chang Yeow said he did not know whether the CC would make a decision to review Huan’s case. But, he said, Huan’s case would for sure be tabled for discussion at the CC meeting scheduled at the party headquarters tomorrow morning.

“We wait and see what happens. I really don’t want to make any conclusion. For sure, Huan’s case will be tabled. We don’t know what the decision will be,” he said when contacted.